Avoid Certain Meaningless Phrases

The Lesson

Last week’s challenge, One Word at a Time, encouraged us to improve our communication skills by strengthening our vocabulary. I suggested using Merriam-Webster’s “Word of the Day” email as a tool to help us do just that. If you took the time to sign up, then the word “phatic” hit your inbox this past Sunday. And, it is that word which inspired this week’s challenge.

Merriam-Webster defines the word phatic as “speech used for social or emotive purposes rather than for communicating information.”

An example of a phatic statement would be when someone asks you in passing, “Hey, how’s it going?”

If you are like most people, either you reply with a quick one-word answer (e.g., “good”) or with a question of your own (e.g., “Hi, how are you?”). Neither of you expect the other person to provide a long-winded response. In fact, you might not expect a response at all. It is merely a kind gesture.

I have monitored hundreds of collection calls over years, and there is one phatic statement that can be problematic even for the most experienced collectors. That statement: How are you today?

Collectors often inject this statement during the introduction as a way to break the ice and gently ease into the real conversation. The opening, however, is the most important part of the call and my experience has taught me that this one phrase can cause a call to get off track, especially when a consumer provides a less than favorable response, such as, “I’m doing horrible.” When this happens many collectors reply with a quick and heartless, “I’m sorry to hear that” and then launch right into a demand for payment.

Lots of collectors, especially the inexperienced among us, struggle to recover and redirect the conversation when a consumer responds in the negative, which is why I encourage collectors to think twice about using the phrase during the introduction. It sounds harmless enough, but few consumers believe you truly care about how they feel, even if you really do, and some consumers will use that phrase as an opportunity to attack the collector.

With that said, if the collector has an existing working relationship with the consumer, using that phrase can actually be beneficial to the conversation.

The Challenge

The bottom line is that in the absence of an existing working relationship using the phrase can create an awkward (and unnecessary) moment during the most important part of the call. Collectors should think twice about using it. Those who insist, however, must commit to mastering appropriate handling strategies to deal with negative responses.

This week, take a moment to analyze your introduction. If you use the phatic statement “How are you?” during the opening of your calls, assess the results it produces. If you find yourself at a loss for words when consumers provide negative responses, put some thought into how you can use their responses to redirect the conversation in an effective manner, or simply stop using the phrase altogether.

The Reflection

1. Do you think the question “How are you doing today?” causes problems in the opening of the call? Why or why not?
2. How do you recover when you ask a consumer how they are doing and they respond with an unfavorable answer?

Stay cool, calm, and collected,

Gary Jensen
Editor | collector mentor
editor@collectormentor.com

To download companion worksheets to use with The collector mentor Challenge™, please visit www.collectormentor.com/thechallenge.

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Published bimonthly, collector mentor is a quick-read publication dedicated entirely to delivering articles and practical advice that teaches credit and collection professionals how to increase collection results, enhance productivity, improve teamwork, and become better stewards of the industry.